The Social Machine of Mathematics

January 2014 to December 2017

For centuries, the highest level of mathematics has been seen as an isolated creative activity, to produce a proof
for review and acceptance by research peers. Mathematics is now at a remarkable inflexion point, with new technology
radically extending the power and limits of individuals. "Crowdsourcing" pulls together diverse experts to solve problems;
symbolic computation tackles huge routine calculations; and computers, using programs designed to verify hardware, check
proofs that are just too long and complicated for any human to comprehend. Yet these techniques are currently used in
stand-alone fashion, lacking integration with each other or with human creativity or fallibility.

"Social machines" are new paradigm, identified by Berners-Lee, for viewing a combination of people and computers
as a single problem-solving entity. This project works towards a new vision, changing the way people do mathematics,
and transforming the reach, pace, and impact of mathematics research, through creating a mathematics social machine
--- a combination of people, computers, and archives to create and apply mathematics.

Phase 1, studying collaborating mathematicians

This phase of the project comprises a number of ethnographic studies of collaborating mathematicians, both on-line and
face-to-face, working with collaborators Lorenzo Lane (Edinburgh), Donald Mackenzie (Edinburgh), Natasa Milic-Frayling (Microsoft
Research) and Alison Pease (Dundee).